KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, man is facing two charges in relation to a shooting at Kessler Park that critically injured a man playing in a disc golf tournament over the weekend.
Osman Ali Igal, 21, is charged with first degree assault and armed criminal action.
Court documents state officers with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department responded to a shooting scene at around 2 p.m. on Saturday.
When they arrived, they found the man, who family members have identified as Jake Riley, suffering from a gun shot wound to the lower back. He was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.
Witnesses described Igal to police at the scene.
A KCPD sergeant later spotted Igal in the area. He allegedly began running away from police with a gun in his hand.
The sergeant told Igal to drop the gun and stop running and he complied. He was taken into custody.
Detectives interviewed several witnesses who said Igal allegedly began following them while they were participating in the final round of the Kansas City Flying Disc Challenge.
Igal later allegedly shot several times, striking Riley.
Detectives showed the witnesses several photos and they all identified Igal as the suspect.
Tournament director Michael Krueger had been at a different location when the shooting happened and canceled the remaining rounds at Kessler Park Saturday.
"Who would ever think whenever there's a park full of 100 people, that somebody would pull a gun and just shoot somebody randomly," Krueger said.
Family members of Riley have started a GoFundMe page, which has already raised more than $10,000 as of Monday evening.
"We're also going to collect money for him to try to help with medical bills, rehabilitation, food, housing, all that kind of stuff that you need when you're unable to work," Krueger said.
Krueger said some players decided not to continue in the tournament Sunday and were understandably shaken, especially after last week's shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.
"It's scary, it happened at Kessler Park, but it could happen at an elementary school, it could happen at a high school," Krueger said.
Krueger said he wants to see more investment by the city into Kessler Park and Blue Valley Park to make them safer, including getting more park rangers.
"It's wonderful land, they're in economically depressed areas, I get that, but we should as a city be able to provide a safe place for people to go and throw frisbees and they shouldn't have to fear for getting shot or getting robbed or something like that," Krueger said.
He said he won't hold any more tournaments at Kessler Park until he sees changes to make it safer.
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